The Tribune

EUGENE Horton will have to hold onto the presidency of the New Providence Basketball Association a little longer than he had anticipated.

Horton was hoping to demit office on Saturday when the NPBA held its annual general meeting and election of officers at the Ministry of Education.

But according to Horton, they didn’t have a quorum after only four of the 13 financial teams were represented. They needed at least seven representatives to make it official.

As a result of the cancellation of the AGM and elections, Horton said they will now have to wait until Saturday, June 15, to complete the process.

“It’s just a matter of the clubs getting together and making sure that they have their representative selected to attend the next meeting,” Horton said.

“We had all of the candidates running for office present, but we couldn’t proceed with the meeting because the clubs were not represented.”

Horton’s first vice president James Price is moving up to replace his former president and will be challenged by Ricardo Smith, a former semi-pro executive. Both Price and Smith were coaches in the league.

Horton said it’s unfortunate that the clubs didn’t show any interest in coming out for the AGM and the elections.

“I would think that they would be interested in hearing how their money is being spent,” Horton said. “So I expected them to show up. But we didn’t have enough representatives to have the meeting and the elections.”

Represented were the reigning champions Commonwealth Bank Giants, the Pros, the Shockers and the Triple K Stampers.

Mario Bowleg, the newly elected president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, was on hand to conduct the elections.

Horton is the first vice president of the BBF. “I was disappointed not having the elections because I really wanted to get this behind me and allow the new administration to take over,” he said.

“They need to get in and do what they have to do to start the process in getting the new season started. I want to make sure that they have a smooth transition, but these guys don’t seem to be interested.”

Horton said it’s now up to the clubs to decide the fate of the NPBA on June 15 when the new date for the AGM and the election of officers takes place.